[getbak]

A big part of the appeal of the Canada Cup was that the Russians and Czechs were complete mysteries. We never saw them in the NHL and they just ran around dominating the amateur squads they usually played.

The only time they ever did play NHLers was during the World Championships, which was against players who just got eliminated from the playoffs whose hearts weren't really into it.

Then, once every four or five years, we'd get to see a real best-on-best tournament and Canada would show the world who really was the best.



We'll never get that again, whether it's a World Cup or an Olympics just because there's too much familiarity now. It's hard to hate the evil Russians when everyone knows Ovechkin and Malkin and those guys.